The Reef Coco Beach Resort & Spa- Optional All Inclusive

Wonderful Place to Stay We went with our family of four, the kids really enjoyed very much and so did we. The weather was wonderful while we were there, hot and no rain. The staffs were extremely excellent from the beginning to the end. Thank you all.

Raw review Resort itself was pretty. Nice pool. Plenty of pool seating, that’s about all the positives. Now the raw, starting at the airport we were bombarded with taxi solicitors that refused to accept “we’re good” because the private transfer I paid for through the resort was not even there yet. We had to wait for him for 20 mins and he didn’t once speak to us. At the resort we were welcomed by a “travel vacation club” worker named Delia that showed great hospitality greeting us at the arrival bus, taking us to the check in desk, bringing us drinks acting like she was “our friend.” In the end she wasted a whole day of our short 2 full day stay. At check-in they said we had to pay extra for top shelf liquor such as the known brands and if we wanted to eat at the hibachi we had to upgrade for $35 a person. I paid for the all-inclusive package so I was a little confused there was ANOTHER upgrade. We chose not to upgrade. Back to the travel seller, she started by constantly chatting with us telling us she can give the best discount for excursions, make sure to see her. We were interested in the whale-shark or sea turtle adventure. She immediately downplayed it “You’re not guaranteed to see a turtle” “You’re not going to see a whale-shark” “I’ll give you free Japanese restaurant meal, massage on beach and cenote with shopping mall” I said “we don’t really want to shop” she says we didn’t have to. While waiting hours for our room to be ready (we arrived at 11, they don’t let you check in until 3 and they mean that) she had plenty of time to con us. We agreed to accept her “freebies” BUT we had to “have breakfast WITH HER and listen to HER presentation”. I wasn’t interested so I was going to just tip her off and send her away cause she said she made “$10 commission” for signing us up. That went south. She says breakfast at 830 the next day, I said no 9 please she said okay. Blew up the room phone by calling starting at 830. She called repeatedly until who knows how long cause we met her downstairs at 9. She immediately asked if we had our credit card, I said yes. She took us to the table with someone else who then asked to see 2 credit cards, I said I only had one and they both talked loud and made an ugly face saying “you said you had 2!” So I dug in my phone to find one on the app. Still not sure what the point of that was other than her getting $10 commission for EACH. She then passed us on to another guy that we had to listen to at breakfast for 45 mins THEN took us to the upstairs to your the vacation rooms, which were mediocre anyway, then to a cubicle setup scam room people dressed nicely for another hour. These people are selling vacation club memberships for $40k-90k. The pressure is annoying. We declined several times. He walked us to our room and never seen him again. Delia acted like we didn’t exist after that. Matter of fact, the only workers at this resort that were friendly was the buffet check-in hostess and a lobby worker named Victor. Everybody else, not friendly, approachable or personable. The room…smelled like sewage and sulfur, beds were hard as a rock, pillows overstuffed with foam peanuts, one washcloth for several guest, it was hot, the AC didn’t adjust to the temperature we set. At the bar, asked for a cup of water and were told no they are closed for another 20 mins. We weren’t asking for a mixed drink people. It was hot and we were thirsty. Another time asked for a cup of ice they said we had to have water too….okay? After the first night, the waitresses and waiters in buffet weren’t attentive as they were the first day. The only place to eat is the buffet or snack bar. Both had disgusting food. I’m far from picky and there was nothing that was even okay. Alcoholic drinks all tasted the same, like sweet n low water. I had a college age student with me who is familiar with drinking all sorts of drinks and she said by far the worst “bar” she’s ever been too. Burgers were more than likely soy. The hotdog was an oversized Vienna sausage. Out of pizza. Couldn’t eat at the restaurants cause they all needed reservations and only took 6 people at a time. The free hibachi we got for listening to the scam, used fajita beef, glad we didn’t pay for that. No night life such as a bar or club. No all day music at the pool. No entertainment other than 9-10pm. Back to the excursion, we went to book it they said we have to do the shopping and tequila tasting and 20 mins at the cenote, so the scammer lied again. We ended up booking our own 3 cenotes adventure, it was GREAT! Excursions leave at 9am so the first full day was wasted having breakfast and presentations with them people. We booked our massages, glad we didn’t pay $135 for that. They laughed, talked, went from scalp to feet back to scalp and face, gross. Again, glad we didn’t pay for that massage. An incident at the elevator with my husband was offensive, he was waiting at the elevator with 2 women and a young child and a worker came and put his arm up in front of my husband after the women and child got on the elevator letting it close and then walked off. My husband in shock said “okay???” The worker walked off with no f’s to give with no apology or explanation leaving him to what we have to assume was the reason, a big man was scary? At least say something. Now, leaving, they scheduled our private transfer 6 hours before departure LOL. They wanted us gone. In summary, this place is def the Leading Vacation Club headquarters, look them up. There was nothing that stuck out or was impressive that would ever make us want to go back to this resort. They have to do better. Hospitality, food and comfort should be priority, not selling a travel package with “ECO points” for a future stay here.

It’s more expensive than on the web site. The resort is small but it’s ok. You have to pay premium service for total access to the restaurant and the price raises to more than double for the all inclusive benefits.

Potential towel scam in progress otherwise reasonable family hotel Am literally here now on the beach typing this as fuming as I just had an argument with staff over towels. I'm staying at sister hotel The Reef 28 and came across yesterday for their holiday club presentation and to use the facilities. As a Reef 28 guest, you are entitled to use their VIP facilities. Upon arrival at the beach hut I was told I had to get a towel card to use a towel - fine - and this was available at reception. Back I go and wait ten minutes as it was obviously a busy time. I was asked to sign for the card but no one told me I had to get a return card when I returned the towel and go back to reception to drop that card off in order to meet their rules or I would be charged. There was something about USD35 but nothing specific about getting a card, heading to reception etc. I just assumed, like at most hotels, you just take the towel back to where you got it and that's it. So upon leaving yesterday I went to the towel place, dropped my towel and told staff I would be snorkelling back to my hotel. No one said anything to me about a card or offered me one. So literally I was none the wiser. I jumped in the water and swam back (have a Strava trace). Today I decided to go back as no beach at the Reef 28 just a pool (which is awesome). I was told I would have to pay UsD35 when I politely asked about towels. I explained the situation and the gent (shorter gent with dark hair - not the tall one) started arguing with me about it. I explained that I had dropped off towels yesterday and swam back but nothing - he kept arguing. Reef 28 guests are allowed to be VIP guests here and this is the way you treat them? There was no way I could physically swim back with a towel but they literally accused me of stealing one of their threadbare blue towels. This has really angered me and is totally unnecessary and avoidable. How about you explain the rules first? I had to sign for a card so just tell me I have to sign to say I've returned it. It's not hard. Or perhaps staff can give you a card once when you return yours and you say you are leaving, without you having to ask because how on earth are you meant to know? They can clearly see that I am a guest of a sister hotel due to the different wristband. Screams of a scam. Other than that the resort itself is ok. Appears to be lots of activities for families, staff work hard and the overall presentation is clean and tidy. The don't seem to say anything however when there are people smoking on the beach or vaping which isn't allowed. The VIP bar and pool area are nice, the beach is good but roped off which I guess for some is a good thing (particularly kids). The buffet was ok, standard fare. Their sister hotel is much much better in every respect but there is a price difference that reflects this.

Happily Stay Here Again Just got back from a 2 week stay here and would happily return to the same place! Room- was clean and spacious when we arrived, no issues, had 2 double beds, air con was lovely and cold, bathroom lovely with towels, hand wash and shower gel. TV had a good range of channels, some of which could be swapped to English. Mini fridge and safety box included, also a water jug with 2 glasses in the room for you to fill up at many of the fountains on the resort. We only had our room cleaned a few times during our stay, we tried to leave a tip for the cleaners but they didn’t take it, room was cleaned well however unsure on how often the towels and bedding are replaced as we started to notice marks on our towels that we had made prior to the room being cleaned. Pool- Big and mostly well kept, the pool would warm up rather quickly so don’t expect to jump into cold water, some of the tiles do come out from the pool floor but never any issues or cuts. Lots of leaves fall from the trees but no harm to anyone. Food & Drink- we never used the lobby bar, the pool bar was used heavily, Luis our barman was lovely and always fast with our drinks. A large range of cocktails, spirits and mixers, however the top shelf alcohol is only for premium bracelet holders, we chose not to upgrade as the price wasn’t worth having a few more drink options and access to a little bit more, they have a cheaper alternative to most of the top shelf alcohol anyway. The snack bar open next to the pool is open during the day and then opens again at night until 2am, the do fries, burgers, pizzas, hot dogs, nachos and burritos and food was lovely there. The main restaurant for breakfast lunch and dinner was nice! It can feel repetitive of 2 weeks, there is an air conned side and an open side which is kept cool by sea breeze and fans. Most nights the dinner is themed eg Mexican, Japanese, Italian, always a large salad bar, fruit platters, charcuterie section, bread section, then the trays of hot food- these change throughout the meal time, so if once a tray of chicken, could then be brought out a tray of veg and the labels weren’t always correct. My advice is try whatever looks nice, I was pleasantly surprised by how nice some of the food was. They have a cooking counter where chefs would have a special to do by order but I never really had This, to the right of that there’s always a small kids section that has pizza, pasta, crisps etc, and always a big selection of desserts. Breakfast became boring as it never changed, same hot food, omelettes can be made and are very nice, pancakes, pastries, cereal etc. lunch would be lighter to dinner and more pasta and rice dishes. To break up the repetitiveness there are 3 restaurants, a Mexican, Italian and Japanese. You have to book these on the day before 5pm and most book in the morning for the time they want, we only tried the Italian but it was lovely and definently would have gone back, had we tried it out earlier. The waiter Alan is lovely in there! We wish we had tried the Mexican but ran out of time and the Japanese you have to pay entry (not sure if you have to pay if premium). The Sky bar and lounge next to the main restaurant is small but nice, open til late, the barman in there was so friendly, quick to make drinks and always smiling. The outside table and chairs overlooking the sea is cool in the evening, sometimes busy but a good chance to talk to other guests. Hotel & Amenities- staff are so lovely and friendly, always happy to help and speak with you, the hotel itself is beautiful and public toilets were clean. There is a jewellery shop and a little boutique in the hotel which sold nice bits, spa and gym downstairs, my mum used the spa and said it was amazing. The excursions we booked through the hotel were some of the best we’ve ever been on, Eddie was really helpful and friendly with booking those. We did whale shark dive, xcaret, ATV and cenote in the jungle and a catamaran boat day. The daytime entertainment and activities team were fun! Aqua aerobics, usually a quiz or bingo, volleyball and another game later in the day, music played by the pool. Evening entertainment was ok, we watched a fire show, an acrobat show, a disco but the entertainment lacked. We didn’t tend to watch it and it usually starts at 9 and lasts an hour. Do not loose pool towels as you need to swap this for a card after use, if you do not return those cards at checkout you are charged. We would swap our towels over for clean ones whenever we wanted to. Pool and ping pong table are good to use but always being used. The water fountains are clean with fresh cold water, located all around the hotel. The sunbeds and daybeds are fine, usually all reserved by 9am but throughout the day they always become free. The part of the beach owned by the hotel has a net around the sea to prevent sargasm, which you see builds up on either side, water is very warm but quite clear, past the net there are a lot of boats which is a disappointing view from the beach but if you walk along for a nice view it’s not bad. There is a dive shop next to the sky bar which does daily scuba driving training in the pool and paddleboards we never used them but I’m sure they do snorkelling and scuba driving trips for an extra cost which we wish we did. Other Points- you can spend the day at the other reef hotels, there is a bus transfer in the morning to the reef 28 (rooftop pool) and playa del car, we didn’t use this so not sure if this is a premium inclusion but those that we spoke to said the reef coco beach had the biggest pool and best choice for food, the reef 28 isn’t great, playa del car has a smaller pool but bigger part of the beach and is a bit more in the jungle. Just outside the hotel is a 7 eleven and pharmacy if you need medicine, suncream, snacks or drinks 10 min walk is 5th avenue full of bars, restaurants and entertainment- we loved how close the hotel was to here. There is a golf course which is free to use, just ask for the equipment by the pool towels desk Lots of animals, lizards, birds, butterflies and coatis in the resort- lovely to see. They have eagles walked around daily to scare away the birds eating food. Overall a lovely stay, Mexico is beautiful, playa del carmen is an amazing place and the reef coco beach we would happily stay in again. Thank you for one of our best holidays!